Oak Tree

Hi, i’m having the big live oak at the front right of your house cut down on mon morning starting around 9. Am worried it could hurt the foundation.

That was the text my landlord sent me about the oak tree that stood less than four feet from our front door. The live oak grew up and away from the house and shaded everything from the front step to the street corner. As far as I knew the foundation got destroyed when we had that drought two years ago. Almost every door in house couldn’t close when the ground dried out and hardened that summer. The oak stood strong though, and the front door closed like it always did.

Now, there are no limbs to duck under when you walk down the sidewalk, or any shade to stand in when the sun hangs high in the afternoon. The house stands taller now in the tree’s absence, but it does not carry itself with casual coolness of the live oak that once stood there. The wood shavings and mulch are scattered where the tree was, and the sun comes to my door unobstructed in the morning, like a neighbor bearing gifts for the new arrivals.